Home > Press > "Photonics Congress 2014": opportunities and risks from globalisation and new social processes of innovation

Abstract:
In both Germany and internationally, photonics drives innovation. In a fiercely competitive environment, this of technology is associated with a highly dynamic evolution and a global market volume that is expected to reach about EUR 615 billion by the year 2020. In the period under review, this would equate to an average annual growth one-and-a-half times that expected for the global gross domestic product (GDP). "We are cooperating closely with the involved industrial associations and federal ministries in bringing home to politics, the press, qualified young workers, and potential investors the pre-eminent significance of this key technology in safeguarding the future," explained Thilo Brodtmann, Deputy Executive Director of the GermanEngineering Federation VDMA, at the "Photonics Congress 2014" in Berlin.

"Photonics Congress 2014": opportunities and risks from globalisation and new social processes of innovation

In spite of the weaker growth over the last two years, primarily as areflex reaction to the exogenous shock of the preceding global financialcrisis, experts on the sector see good prospects of long-term growth forthe German photonics industry. In 2012, this turnover had grown by threeper cent to about EUR 28 billion. In the course of 2013, the prospects havebrightened considerably, especially on the investment goods sector, and thephotonics industry has embarked into the new year with confidentexpectations. The growth rate for 2013 is likewise expected to be aboutthree per cent, reflecting complete involvement in global trading. For2014, all economic indicators are pointing to a path that will lead back tothe long-term growth trend. Also the target turnover of EUR 44 billionpredicted by the sector last year will be reached by 2020.

According to Brodtmann, who is also responsible for introducing newtechnology fields to the association's portfolio, "we must look beyond ourimmediate needs, prevent errors, and continue to develop our strengths."

Manufacturing technology and image processing power growth

The growth of the photonics industry in Germany has more than been boostedby the core fields aligned to manufacturing technology like lasermachining, lithography, image processing, and measuring technology andinstrumentation. These stout pillars of development have caused Germany'sshare of the global market to grow to 20 per cent, considerably higher thanthe average eight per cent recorded over the whole technology field. Thiscan be put down particularly to the high export ratio (last averaging 66per cent), which is even higher in the said core segments with the promiseof more to come. At the same time, the drop in exports inside Europe couldbe more than offset in most cases by expanding exports to Asia, and anadditional boost in American trading in 2012. The R&D percentage on thephotonic high-tech sectors remains at a high level. At nine to ten percent, it lies far higher than the processing industry's average, estimatedat about four per cent by the Institute for Economic Research.

Marked power of innovation

According to a VDMA survey based on an innovation panel, there is aparticularly high percentage of product innovations in those economicallyimportant lines of industry that directly incorporate photonics or utilisethis "enabling technology" for its levering effects. These include, forinstance, machine building, the automotive industry, electrical systems andelectronics, telecommunications, and medical engineering. These high-volumesectors can expect overproportional production expansions ranging betweenthree and eight per cent (see aircraft construction) for 2014.

VDMA reflects the full spectrum of photonics

The VDMA represents the variety and heterogeneity of the cross-sectionaltechnology in an excellent way: seven VDMA professional sectors related tophotonics joined forces via the "VDMA Photonics Forum" to realise synergiesand to combine the existing competences. As a result the VDMA strengthensits position and its claim to leadership in the area of photonics. Thenetwork of the forum includes more than 500 companies and researchinstitutions along the entire value chain - of which some 400 members areactive primarily in the field of photonics. Taken all together, thephotonic technologies represented within the VDMA stand for a combinedturnover of nearly EUR 14 billion and some 56,000 employees. Inevitablythese figures will include multiple references and about 25 per cent ofthat activity relates to sales and personnel outside of the field ofphotonics technology.

In order to integrate the perspective of the industry even more directlyinto the activities of the forum the VDMA appointed an industrial steeringcommittee for photonics in December last year. High-ranking industryrepresentatives from the various photonics sectors of the VDMA will work toenhance intra-association awareness and promote the key technology's strongposition in business and scientific policy, especially in terms of itsgeneral public awareness.

New Working Group "Additive Manufacturing"

More recently, the VDMA has embarked on a new Working Group "AdditiveManufacturing" to cover yet another special field making use of photonics,for instance laser-assisted sintering and melting. This consistently takesup generative manufacturing processes as an industrial subject of thefuture. After all, the path from rapid prototyping to the economical smallbatch production of high-quality series components has already been walked,and the relevance to machinery and plant engineering is evident. Anopportunity for targeted "cross-fertilisation" can be seen, for instance,for medical engineering, here implants and prosthetics from generativemanufacturing for even greater individualisation potential.